2016

Kelly Prescott releases new single BATTLE ROAD and announces her new EP HILLBILLY JEWELS

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Country singer-songwriter Kelly Prescott has released her brand new single ‘Battle Road’ to stream on Soundcloud, along with an accompanying music video. In her own words: “Battle Road is a very honest glimpse into most normal relationships. I think a lot of people can relate to this one. Love isn’t always easy.” Battle Road is the first single to be released from her forthcoming EP Hillbilly Jewels, out this summer. Kelly Prescott hails from two musically renowned family lines, spanning three generations from Northern Ontario, Nova Scotia and the Ottawa Valley. She has naturally inherited the foundation to follow her musical heart, drawing inspiration from her great Canadian roots. Imbued with experiences gleaned from growing up in an award-winning studio, she has hit the ground running in pursuit of her own musical expression. When Kelly sings about love you feel every up and down. She sings pain like she never knew anything but hurt; she belts out blues like she was born in the Mississippi Valley, instead of the banks of Mississippi Lake up north in Ontario. Kelly Prescott is a from-the-cradle country singer, influenced by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Roger Miller and Ryan Adams. When her voice is blended with steel guitars and fiddles, country music lovers from way-back-when will hear a kindred soul. When she spins the dial forward a few decades, it’s clear she’s part of a new generation of artists who are making new sounds and big waves. With this new EP, Hillbilly Jewels, Kelly takes the next step in her craft, with songs that speak to a new generation of lovers of country music; plenty of energy, deep passion, powerful vocals, and honest storytelling about real life today.

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Fender makes Andrew Leahey first artist to receive new deluxe Nashville telecaster

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For 70 years, Fender has inspired countless musicians to pick up its electric guitars, from Stratocaster players like Mark Knopfler to Telecaster pickers like Laur Joamets. This week, Fender’s Nashville-based A&R team hand-picked American rock & roll songwriter and guitar player Andrew Leahey, frontman of Andrew Leahey & the Homestead to receive the first in a new line of deluxe Nashville telecaster guitars. “The first guitar I ever bought was a Fender Squire Strat,” Andrew remembers. “I was 10 years old, and I mowed my neighbor’s lawn for an entire summer to save up enough money. Years later, it’s an honor to be working with some of the guys behind this company. They’re true music fans, willing to invest in some of the newer faces in Nashville’s music scene. To say that I’m honored to be the first to receive one of these new guitars is an understatement.” Andrew recovered from a risky brain surgery in 2014 and responded to his new lease on life by writing and recording an 11-track album, ‘Skyline In Central Time,’ due out August 5th on Thirty Tigers. Ken Coomer, Wilco’s drummer and co-founder, produced the project.  

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Lonesome shack release new studio album THE SWITCHER

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“The Switcher is a record that can hold equal audible weight in 1965 as 2065. Rock-n-roll forever and ever, Amen.” – No Depression Veteran rockers Lonesome Shack are known for their no-frills, dirty blues rock. Their upcoming album, The Switcher, promises to be an ambitious step forward. The band challenged themselves to create a collection that packed the same pulverizing punch as their live show. The result is some of their finest work yet.” – Pure volume Lonesome Shack started in the early 2000’s when songwriter Ben Todd developed his musical voice in the isolation of rural New Mexico. After moving to Seattle in 2007, Todd teamed up with drummer Kristian Garrard and they found an instant chemistry. As a duo they released Bound To Die (2008) and Slidin Boa (2010) and brought their primitive boogie to every corner of the USA. In 2011, Lonesome Shack were joined by bassist Luke Bergman and the trio released the live album City Man (2012), which was recorded in one night at their favorite neighbourhood bar, Cafe Racer. With More Primitive (2014), Lonesome Shack continued to hone their skills as an elemental rock group: stripped down, raw, expressive and danceable. Lonesome Shack’s latest album The Switcher is their most ambitious and complete work yet. The Switcher’s 14 songs add dimension to the band’s vision. The album is by turns dirty and raucous or slow and expansive, with resonant lyrics and inventive songwriting. The record was recorded with Johnny Goss, who also manned the board for More Primitive, and an effort was made to make the music sound just as it does at a live show. The album took over a year to complete, pieced together from three different periods of recording sessions. The sounds and feels are varied, but the message is clear – everything is held together by the groove. Lonesome Shack’s The Switcher is out now on Double Vinyl LPs, CD and digital formats.

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Chase Rice releases rallying anthem EVERYBODY WE KNOW DOES

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Chase Rice has built his country music career one fan at a time, honing his vigorous live show by playing everywhere from dive bars and fields to amphitheaters and sheds, listening to peoples’ stories and tapping into the common pulse that brings them together night after night: Music. With four headlining tours, opening runs for stadium superstar Kenny Chesney and  entertainer Dierks Bentley, a chart-topping album and two Top 5 radio hits now under his belt, Rice has ridden the highs and lows right alongside his fans and supporters and harnessed that collective energy in recording music for his forthcoming album.  With his new single “Everybody we know does” available at digital retailers and arriving at country radio on the 28th June, Rice delivers an authentic anthem that reflects the values and lifestyle he shares with his core supporters while also nodding to their diversity. “These last few years have been a whirlwind, being out on the road building our live show and working on new music for the next record. I’ve lived a lot and had some incredible experiences and opportunities, but I’ve also been spending some time out at my farm, just unplugging for a bit and reflecting on what music means to me and what it means to all of the people who have shown up and supported me over the years,” said Rice. “That’s why this song, ‘Everybody we know does’ is really special to me. We went in and recorded it with some of Nashville’s top studio musicians, so it’s our sound and our lives reflected in this song. It’s who we are, and that’s ultimately what brings us all together.” “Everybody we know does” was written by Jeremy Bussey and Travis Denning and is available at all digital retail partners now at http://smarturl.it/everybodyweknowdoes

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Bluegrass music patriarch Ralph Stanley dies at 89

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Ralph Stanley, a patriarch of Appalachian music who with his brother Carter helped expand and popularize the genre that became known as bluegrass, died Thursday from difficulties with skin cancer. He was 89. Stanley was born and raised in southwest Virginia, a land of coal mines and deep forests where he and his brother formed the Stanley Brothers and their Clinch Mountain Boys in 1946. Their father would sing them old traditional songs like “Man of Constant Sorrow,” while their mother, a banjo player, taught them the old-time clawhammer style, in which the player’s fingers strike downward at the strings in a rhythmic style. Heavily influenced by Grand Ole Opry star Bill Monroe, the brothers fused Monroe’s rapid rhythms with the mountain folk songs from groups such as the Carter Family, who hailed from this same rocky corner of Virginia. The Stanleys created a distinctive three-part harmony that combined the lead vocal of Carter with Ralph’s tenor and an even higher part sung by bandmate Pee Wee Lambert. Carter’s romantic songwriting professed a deep passion for the rural landscape, but also reflected on lonesomeness and personal losses. Songs like “The Lonesome River,” uses the imagery of the water to evoke the loss of a lover, and “White Dove,” describes the mourning and suffering after the death of a mother and father. In 1951, they popularized “Man of Constant Sorrow,” which was also later recorded by Bob Dylan in the ’60s. The brothers were swept into the burgeoning folk movement and they toured the country playing folk and bluegrass festivals during the ’60s, including the Newport Folk Festival in 1959 and 1964. But when Carter died of liver disease in 1966, Ralph wasn’t sure he could continue. His brother had been the main songwriter, lead singer and front man, and Ralph, by his own account, was withdrawn and shy, although he had overcome some of his early reticence. “Within weeks of his passing, I got phone calls and letters and telegrams and they all said don’t quit. They said, ‘We’ve always been behind you and Carter, but now we’ll be behind you even more because we know you’ll need us,’” Stanley told The Associated Press in 2006. After Carter’s death, Ralph drew even deeper from his Appalachian roots, adopting the a cappella singing style of the Primitive Baptist church where he was raised. He reformed the Clinch Mountain Boys band to include Ray Cline, vocalist Larry Sparks and Melvin Goins. He would change the lineup of the band over the years, later including Jack Cooke, and mentored younger artists like Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs, who also performed with him. Dylan and Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia praised his work and, in the case of Dylan, joined him for a remake of the Stanley Brothers’ “Lonesome River” in 1997. He was given an honorary doctorate of music from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, in 1976, and he was often introduced as “Dr. Ralph Stanley.” He performed at the inaugurations of U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, was given a “Living Legends” medal from the Library of Congress and a National Medal of Arts presented by the National Endowment for the Arts and President George W. Bush. He became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2000. But at age 73, he was introduced to a new generation of fans in 2000 due to his chilling a cappella dirge “O Death” from the hit Coen Brothers’ “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” movie soundtrack. The album was a runaway hit, topping the Billboard 200 chart, as well as the country albums and soundtrack charts, and sold millions of copies. He won a Grammy for best male country vocal performance in 2002 — beating out Tim McGraw, Ryan Adams, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Lyle Lovett — and was the focus of a successful tour and documentary inspired by the soundtrack. The soundtrack, produced by T Bone Burnett, also won a Grammy for album of the year. The following year he and Jim Lauderdale would win a Grammy for best bluegrass album for “Lost in the Lonesome Pines.” He said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2002 that younger people were coming to see his shows and hear his “old time music,” and was enjoying the belated recognition. “I wish it had come 25 years sooner,” he said. “I am still enjoying it, but I would have had longer to enjoy it.” Despite health problems, he continued to record and tour into his 80s, often performing with his son Ralph Stanley II on guitar and his grandson Nathan on mandolin. Stanley was born in Big Spraddle, Virginia and lived in Sandy Ridge outside of Coeburn, Virginia. His mother was Lucy Jane Smith Stanley and his father was Lee Stanley. He is survived by his wife Jimmie Stanley – they were to celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary on July 2nd. He is also survived by his children: Lisa Stanley Marshall, Tonya Armes Stanley and Ralph Stanley II; His grandchildren: Nathan Stanley, Amber Meade Stanley, Evan Stout, Ashley Marshall, Alexis Marshall, Taylor Stanley, and Ralph Stanley III; and great grandchild Mckenzie Stanley. Memorial service details are pending and will be announced shortly.

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Festival News: New additions to line up & stage times

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FRIDAY 1ST, 2ND & 3RD JULY ‘Maverick is a Wild Western village in East Anglia where last year I was able to see many of the musicians that I usually see here in Nashville. And as Nashville residents, Emma Swift and I are now both qualified to play Maverick; it’s twangy, and, amazingly – it’s British. Plus it features goats, a vintage bus, and proper toilets: yaysville!’ ROBYN HITCHCOCK Tickets are available from www.ticketweb.co.uk // www.maverickfestival.co.uk The Maverick Festival showcases the best in Americana / Roots music, from both sides of theAtlantic, across five stages, situated in the beautiful Suffolk countryside. Due to unforeseen circumstances, unfortunately Los Pacaminos have had to cancel their performance at this year’s Maverick Festival. We are very excited to welcome YOLA CARTER to this year’s line-up! A force of nature, her powerhouse voice and stage presence, superb original songs and striking arrangements combine to create a sensational live show. “A phenomenal talent, drawing on gospel, soul and country inflections” The Independent For this years full line-up please go to www.maverickfestival.co.uk Maverick Festival 2016 line-up will include performances from: SAM OUTLAW *ROBYN HITCHCOCK *JON LANGFORD* LUKE WINSLOW KING * THE HACKENSAW BOYS * BRITT GULLY * THE SULTANS OF STRING * ROBERT VINCENT * ROAMIN’ JASMIN’ BARBARA NESBITT * HYMN & HER * AMELIA WHITE New additions to this year’s Maverick Festival line-up include, SAM OUTLAW – A classic honky-tonk troubadour from Los Angeles whose latest album ANGELENO has already hit many of the year‘s top ten lists, including The Daily Telegraph. We are excited to announce that legendary songwriter ROBYN HITCHCOCK will perform at the festival this year. Recently relocated to East Nashville following his successful collaboration with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Robyn, who made a surprise appearance at the festival last year, brings his own blend of beautiful eccentricity back to Maverick. Next in line we would like to welcome JON LANGFORD to the Maverick 2016 bill – Founding member of the legendary MEKONS and WACO BROTHERS, performing his own set as well as exhibiting the outsider-art for which he has more recently made his name. Then we have the HACKENSAW BOYS. Hailing from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, the band is all about finger picking banjos, fiddles and baritone harmonies wrung through the punk rock blue-grass ringer. They have played the major US festivals, appeared at the iconic Ryman Auditorium and backed the legendary Charlie Louvin. In 2012 they were nominated for Best Bluegrass Group in the INDEPENDENT COUNTRY AWARDS.  

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Stage times released for Buckle & Boots Festival 2016

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Buckle & Boots country festival, taking place this weekend (24th – 26th June) has confirmed the stage times for all artists performing across both stages. The lineup sees Dexeter kicking things off on Friday night at 7pm, with Raintown headlining before an after-party with a DJ. The Acoustic stage opens with Lisa Wright at 12pm on the Sunday, with The Rising taking to the Heineken main stage at 12:30pm. A day full of great country acts from both sides of the pond goes on into the evening, with Carolynne Poole performing her set at 10pm, and Ward Thomas, who have just announced their new album ‘Cartwheels’ headlining at 11pm. Sunday’s Acoustic stage lineup starts with Emma Jade at 12pm, with the Yellhounds closing the day, and the Heineken main stage opens with London alt-country duo Two Ways Home, with US headliner Phil Vassar taking to the stage at 8pm and Jess & The Bandits, the final live act of the weekend, at 9pm.  

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The Honeycutters release 4th studio album ON THE ROPES

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The Honeycutters have a voice you can’t ignore; a voice of persistence, of struggle and of hope, a voice that leads the new music movement erupting out of Asheville, NC. The band have released their 4th studio album ON THE ROPES on Organic Records, Nashville’s Music City Roots’ Craig Havighurst says principal songwriter and frontwoman, Amanda Anne Platt “has a voice that’s complex, sweet and aching. Even more potently, she writes songs that folks are citing as up there with the best of the field, such as Mary Gauthier and Lucinda Williams.” On The Ropes was produced by Amanda Anne Platt and Tim Surrett and engineered and mastered by Van Atkins at Crossroads Studios in Arden, NC. In ON THE ROPES Platt continues to bring songs of heartache, yearning, and comebacks using phrases so relatable you wish you had thought of them yourself, ”Love ain’t ever black and white, it’s pink and gray and blue besides” (“Blue Besides”). Platt’s writing is always personal. The title track, “On The Ropes,” is a rally song about coming back from hard knocks. “When I’m down for the count there’s a voice I can’t ignore,” like a continuous conversation with herself, pushing her along and encouraging her to make “something out of nothing.” In a recent interview with David Dye of the World Cafe, Dye pointed out Platt’s string of songs with ‘love gone wrong’ themes. Her response, “Doesn’t everyone have stories of love gone wrong?” Part of Amanda’s significance as a songwriter lies in her ability to write everybody’s story and allow each listener to feel it’s theirs alone. She shares songs of love and loss, songs of struggles and fears; in “The Only Eyes” Amanda writes, “If there were an easier road that wasn’t so crooked, Honey, I hope you know I would have took it.” NPR’s World Cafe, produced by XPN in Philadelphia, brought the show to Asheville’s The Grey Eagle this February for a sold out evening of entertainment including The Honeycutters in their “Sense of Place” series. Folks can listen in to The Honeycutters’ World Cafe segment at http://bit.ly/TheHoneycutters_WorldCafe. The power of Amanda’s songwriting requires musicianship with the kind of edginess needed to match it, to cohesively surround the lyrics in just the right skin while still shining in their individual performances. Joining Amanda Platt to round out The Honeycutters are Rick Cooper, alternating between upright and electric bass, accentuating the band’s delve deeper into a rock sound blending with their old-school country roots attitude. Along with drummer Josh Milligan the two create a powerful pocket and groove that locks the album together, with Milligan’s vocal harmonies complementing and enhancing Platt’s lead. The pedal steel work of Matt Smith brings unexpected rock licks on an instrument traditionally reserved for a classic country sound in tracks like “Blue Besides” and “Only Eyes”. Smith also shows his prowess on electric guitar with rock, and R&B flavored runs and solos like in “Golden Child”. Tal Taylor’s mandolin cuts through with bitey, bluesy notes and fierce tremolo that pushes the instrument beyond its obvious folk appeal. ON THE ROPES has thirteen tracks of all original material with the exception of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” a song Amanda has been playing since before she moved to Asheville. She says, “We’ve had a number of people ask us to record our version, so here ’tis.” A special vinyl edition of ON THE ROPES released April 12, 2016 on Vinyl Tuesday, as a featured national release for Record Store Week. It is a double album released through Organic Records®’ national distribution partner Select-O-Hits. “This here record store is Amanda Anne Platt country, and her new album On The Ropes with those masters of gritty roots-rock The Honeycutters is our new national anthem. Packed with incisive lyrics, unforgettable hooks and just the right balance between rock oomph, country heartache and singer/songwriter incisiveness, this is a must-have album is Appalachian honky-tonk with heart and guts,” writes Horizon Records out of Greenville, SC. ON THE ROPES builds on the critical success of The Honeycutters breakout album Me Oh My [Organic Records 2015], which appeared on over twenty “2015 Year End Lists” including nods from No Depression, “It’s the type of country music you’d play on the jukebox and take a spin on a red dirt floor” and Cleveland Scene, “an upbeat symphony of regret, redemption and resurgence.” The album was voted #3 on WNCW’s Top 100 Listeners Poll (Under Jason Isbell and Alabama Shakes), listed in NPR’s Folk Alley’s Top 50, and was one of KBCS’s “Most Played Albums of 2015.” In their “50 Essential Albums for 2015” list, Saving Country Music writes, “Me Oh My is the 14-song testament that you sense could be the centerpiece of her career when it’s all said and done… This is a band, an album, and a songwriter that both the Americana and country world should pay greater attention to.” Me Oh My launched The Honeycutters onto the national stage, bringing along an army of fans with them. Don’t blink now, they’re coming back for more. It has been said that overnight success is a result of long time dedication and hard work. Amanda writes, in “Golden Child,” her love letter to the music industry, “Now I don’t mind if it takes a little time, when it comes to waiting I’ve been practicing for years.” Song Premier: LISTEN: The Honeycutters, “Blue Besides” at The Bluegrass Situation → www.thebluegrasssituation.com/read/listen-honeycutters-blue-besides Pre-order at iTunes Get the vinyl at Tower Records, Select-O-Hits, and Amazon Stay tuned to www.TheHoneycutters.com, www.facebook.com/Honeycutters, and twitter.com/thehoneycutters.

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Steven Tyler reveals debut solo album WE'RE ALL SOMEBODY FROM SOMEWHERE

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Iconic songwriter and prolific singer Steven Tyler revealed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show recently that his highly anticipated debut solo album will be released July 15th worldwide on Dot Records, underneath the Big Machine Label Group umbrella. The album is available for pre-order at the following link po.st/STyler. Revealing the cover art while chatting with Ellen, Tyler shared that he co-produced the 13-track album entitled WE’RE ALL SOMEBODY FROM SOMEWHERE, alongside legendary musicians/producers T Bone Burnett and Dann Huff in addition to Marti Frederiksen and Jaren Johnston (The Cadillac Three). On June 24th, Tyler will release the album’s title track ‘We’re All Somebody From Somewhere’ across digital retail partners everywhere. “I headed down to Nashville last spring to start working on this project, wrote some kick ass songs with some of Music City’s finest songwriters and now we get to share them with the world on July 15,” said Tyler. “Country music is the new Rock ‘n Roll. It’s not just about porches, dogs and kicking your boots up. It’s a whole lot more. It’s about being real. And nothing is more real than understanding We’re All Just Somebody From Somewhere.” A longtime fan of the genre, Tyler’s “powerful and raw” (Rolling Stone Country) voice first hit the Country airwaves as “Love Is Your Name” reached #1 on the Billboard Country Streaming Songs chart. He followed with the anthemic “RED, WHITE & YOU,” which Taste of Country called “an unapologetic slice of good-time commercial country, slickly produced and with a lyric aimed squarely at the work-hard, play-hard values of country’s core audience.” American fans can experience live versions of the new tracks, in addition to signature hits throughout the limited-run, 19-city solo tour, ‘STEVEN TYLER’S OUT ON A LIMB’. Tickets are now on sale, bringing the dynamic frontman to a series of intimate venues for a once-in-a-lifetime evening with rock royalty. Backed by his Nashville-based band, Loving Mary, the GRAMMY® Award-winner gets up-close-and-personal like never before as he shares his real-life heartaches, trials and tribulations from his piano upbringing to worldwide fame and life with his band. In a time-traveling musical journey that spans over four decades, the industry institution does not hold back as he recounts in-depth stories of his life from his musical ancestors in Calabria, Italy all the way to Route 440 and Nashville’s Country music. Cited by Rolling Stone as as “one of the greatest singers of all time,” Tyler and Aerosmith have sold more than 150 million records worldwide. He has won four Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards and an Emmy Award. In addition to having nine #1 hits, 25 GOLD, 18 PLATINUM and 12 MULTI-PLATINUM album certifications, the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2013, Tyler was awarded with the Founder’s Award at the ASCAP Pop Awards and was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. In November 2015, Tyler founded his philanthropic initiative Janie’s Fund (www.janiesfund.org), in partnership with Youth Villages to bring hope and healing to girls who have suffered the trauma of abuse and neglect. www.StevenTyler.com

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